11/24/2010 – FIDE has just announced the dates for the Candidates matches in Kazan, Russia (3 to 27 May 2011), but leave the replacement of Carlsen by Grischuk as a dangling hypothetical. If it materializes then the pairings change quite dramatically. In a long and eloquent interview conducted during the Blitz World Championship Teimour Radjabov speaks his mind.

11/24/2010 – The Aeroflot Open Chess Festival, one of the most popular tournaments in the world, will be held for the tenth time running, from 7 to 19 February 2011. It is open to chess players of most varied qualification: from unrated to GMs. The total prize fund is 160,000 Euros, and it includes qualification places for the Super Tournament in Dortmund and the World Blitz Championship 2011. Register now!

11/23/2010 – That's Marianske Lazne in Czech, and it is where once a year a rising generation of female chess players faces a team of chess legends of the 20th century. They are represented by Portisch, Hort, Velimirovic and Uhlman, while the ladies are Humpy, Cmilyte, Caoili and Olsarova. They were tied after two rounds but the Oldies took a thumping in the third. Illustrated report.

11/22/2010 – ... one must be able to take something, the second player had thought here liquidating White's passed pawn with 25...Bb5xc6, which was of course followed by 26.Rb1-e1 whereupon all black pieces were directly or indirectly attacked. How would you assess the position now?
A) Black can favourably unpin;
B) no advantage, but the strong b-pawn guarantees Black the draw;
C) Black ultimately loses a pieces.
The solution is here, but first ponder over it with a larger version of the diagram.

11/22/2010 – The Editor of Chess Notes points out that writers of opening monographs often simply ignore the detailed work of theoreticians from bygone years. Taking Alekhine’s Defence as an example, he gives many references to forgotten articles published in magazines up to the middle of the twentieth century, including analysis by such luminaries as Réti and Grünfeld. A salutary lesson.

11/21/2010 – The event is just huge and is a chess lover's dream come true. It is hosting the Ibero-American Championship, then there is a high-profile bonanza with 10-minute games with stars such as Topalov, Polgar, and Ivanchuk, plus simuls by Karpov and Kasparov, a huge outdoor chess art exhibition, lectures, a recreation of "The Turk", and a giant open. Plentiful pictorial by Nadja Wittmann.

11/20/2010 – This could be the highest chess tournament in Europe. It is staged in the pretty Alpine town of Livigno, located at an altitude of 1,816 meters, in an area famous for its scenery, cows, cheese and birth rate (highest in Italy). The inhabitants are convinced that it is more beautiful than the neighboring St. Moritz and set out to prove this with a chess tournament. Big pictorial report by Diana Mihajlova.

11/19/2010 – We are pleased open the virtual doors to our new online shop, bringing new features to help simplify your purchases, payable also with PayPal and Ducats(!), as well as manage your PlayChess account, and download versions of our programs you bought, with the option to re-download if you need. We are giving away four weeks of Premium Playchess subscriptions too! Let us give you a quick tour.

11/19/2010 – Larry Evans, who died at the age of 78 this Monday, scored an impressive nine points in ten games in his first Olympiad for the U.S. In 26 years, from 1950 to 1976, he chalked up 64.5/100 points in eight Olympiads. GM Lubomir Kavalek, who played next to him at the 1976 Olympiad in Haifa, shows us one of the most thrilling games of Evans' career in this Huffington Post column.

11/18/2010 – With two rounds to go Lev Aronian had a point-and-a-half lead over his nearest rival, Teimour Radjabov, with last year's winner Magnus Carlsen half a point behind. Aronian lost both the final games, Radjabov lost one too and Carlsen drew both of his. So the Armenian-in-Superform finished alone in first place, with the Azeri and Norwegian in the places. Full illustrated report.

11/18/2010 – The 16th Asian Games are underway, not to be confuse with the Asian Championship. This is a full-fledged Olympic sport event, with two full chess competitions in it. The first is an individual rapid event, men's and women's sections, followed by a tournament control team event. Rustam Kazimdzhanov and Hou Yifan brought gold to their countries. Here are the individual competitions.

11/17/2010 – It has become a tradition that this super-strong blitz championship starts immediately after the Tal Memorial tournament – with players from that event and other fresh blood flown in. Twenty participants, double round robin, on three days. After the first third Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian lead with 10.0/14. We bring you results and some dramatic video footage from the first day of play.